Southern California -- this just in

Woman charged with trying to sell flying possum online

January 11, 2012 | 7:14
am

A Hollywood woman was charged Tuesday with breeding an exotic species known as a sugar glider and attempting to sell the animals on Facebook.

Amy Young Lynn, 39, faces eight counts of unlawful possession and attempted sale of a restricted species, according to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office. If convicted, she could face up to four years in jail and an $8,000 fine.

Sugar gliders are small possums native to Australia that have the ability to soar more than 400 feet through the air on wing-like membranes that stretch between their front and hind legs.

They are bred and allowed as pets in many places in the United States, but they are banned as pets in California, as well as in Australia, as a deterrent to the common practice of taking them from the wild.

Young was caught with eight animals by undercover state Fish and Game officials after they responded to her advertisement on Facebook offering them for $400 a pair, authorities said. The animals were seized and taken to a wildlife preserve.

Prosecutors say Young told them that two sugar gliders had been given to her at a party and that they reproduced.